


like what's up danger

by Hoothootmotherf_ckers



Series: why would a star, a star ever be afraid of the dark? [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, HopePunk, Team as Family, fucking hope and creation and joy, paladin au, what do you use to take down nihilism personified?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers
Summary: Lup flashes a brilliant grin, a snarl of righteous anger and hope. “I think this is how we can take down the Hunger for good. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of losing. This is a way we can fight, this is antithetical to everything that fucking nihilism cloud is and represents.”And the longer she talks, the more passionate she becomes, the more light seems to silhouette her body, an undeniable echo of just moments ago underscoring her words. “This is how we canwin.”(what if the seven birds were paladins of the Light of Creation?)
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Magnus Burnsides & Davenport & Merle Highchurch & Lucretia & Lup & Taako
Series: why would a star, a star ever be afraid of the dark? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610782
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49





	like what's up danger

**Kindle the Light**

Everything comes to a head after the seventeenth cycle, after the loss of the robot plane. Lup isn’t tired, isn’t defeated. She’s _angry._ Angry at the repetition, at the Hunger, at her inability to do anything about it. At the losses she’s seen, the horrors she’s witnessed. At what they came so close to doing, to becoming, last cycle. 

And so she stares out into this newfound sky, the brilliant blue that will soon be marred by streaks of black, and thinks _this ends here._

It takes some time. There’s research, and practice, and Lup spends a cycle poring over books with Lucretia’s assistance. Once she has a starting point, she works with Barry in the lab, running tests and collecting data. Neither knows quite what she’s doing, why she needs this knowledge, but they trust her, of course they do.

And after two cycles go this way, testing and fine-tuning and studying, Lup calls a meeting. 

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of this,” she says, waving her hands expansively. “We fight, and sometimes we lose, and sometimes we don’t die. But we never win.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty shitty,” Taako says cautiously. “But what do you expect us to do? We’re doing everything we can, pulling out all the stops, and it’s barely enough.”

“Unless you have some sort of crazy master plan to magically save the day,” Magnus adds, half sarcastic and half hopeful. It’s been a long nineteen years. 

Lup flashes a grin, sharp and angry. “Guess what? I do.” And she snaps her fingers. 

Lup’s friends, her family, watch in awe as Lup’s hand _transforms._ Just for a moment, a heart-stopping instant, it’s not flesh or matter at all, but pure, iridescent light given solid form. And then it fades, and Lup stumbles back a step, winded. And her six companions stare in shock, because they know what they just saw - after so many years, they wouldn’t mistake the glowing shine of the Light of Creation for anything else. But what? _How?_

Taako, of course, is the first to speak up. “Hey, Lulu, what the _fuck?_ ”

She points finger guns at him, trying to patch some lighthearted bravado over the intensity of her emotions, of her plan coming together. “I’m a paladin, surprise! Multi-classing like a badass, hell yeah.” Her tone shifts, more serious. “This is what I’ve been working on the past few years. Paladins stand for a cause, an idea, not just a god like you’d think. I am a paladin of the motherfucking Light of Creation, y’all. And so are you, or at least you can be, I’m almost sure. And I think…” She flashes a brilliant grin, a snarl of righteous anger and hope. “I think this is how we can take down the Hunger for good. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of losing. This is a way we can fight, this is antithetical to everything that fucking nihilism cloud is and represents.” 

And the longer she talks, the more passionate she becomes, the more light seems to silhouette her body, an undeniable echo of just moments ago underscoring her words. “This is how we can _win._ ”

**Shelter the Light**

It takes work, and yet it doesn’t. After all, isn’t this what they’ve been trying to do all along? They had their mission from that first year, the first year they saw a world ripped apart by darkness. So really, they just keep doing what they’ve always done. But they’re stronger, now. More cohesive. Instead of an endless repetition, they have an end goal. Each new year is another step toward that.

It adds a new lightness to their travels, as well as a new significance. They’re just doing what’s right, trying their hardest to help and not just survive. And now they have justification. The beach year, the year they spend resting and learning and recovering, they know they can rest, and that they should, even. A light is no use if it burns out. There’s so much more to fighting the Hunger than just fighting, now. It’s not about surviving. It’s about _living._

In Tesseralia, Magnus pulls a team together, builds them up until they stand strong on their own, until they grow from despondent to triumphant. And they’re _happy._ It’s not just about winning, about being able to win. It’s about enjoying the game. And even when they lose, when another team takes them down, Magnus still sees just the slightest glow emanate from the players. Because even now, they’re enjoying themselves. 

And there’s Legato. The cycle of creation, of growth, of teaching and learning and making. And this is when the light is strongest, and at its most visible in everything they do. The dirty paintbrushes Lucretia absentmindedly tucks behind her ears gleam in the darkness. Each chip and divot and bloodstain on Magnus’s carvings seems to shimmer with an inexplicable depth. Even Taako’s book, plagiarized as it is, glints just faintly - not with Taako’s artistic efforts, but with the inspiration he cultivates in his students. 

When the day comes, when it’s time to share what they’ve created, the entire valley glows with radiant light. When Barry and Lup, who’ve kept their creation secret for a whole year, finally perform, they are fire incarnate, a blazing white that should sear the eyes of all those watching. But it doesn’t, just warms and bolsters and reminds everyone of what they’re truly fighting for. 

And when Magnus enters the cave, meets the baby Voidfish and its family, they burn with the same iridescent fire. 

They don’t get the Light back, not that cycle. But it’s not a loss. Because everything they did, everything they’ve done, has built toward a longer goal. They’re protecting the Light, helping it grow. And every cycle, little by little, they’re bolstering the light in every being they meet. 

And none of them try harder than Merle. 

**Preserve Your Own Light**

Things go differently, this time around. When they reach cycle 65, the judge’s world, they are captured, but only briefly. They fight back, they escape, they burn their way through the barren, lifeless world. And they burn together. 

Lucretia, the youngest of the team, the journal-keeper, spends the cycle fighting, fleeing, scrambling to survive. But she isn’t alone, has not suffered that title. So this cycle, this terrifying cycle, she does not become Madam Director. Not yet. 

There’s no need to become liches. Lup and Barry have no need for secrecy, no need for sacrifice. They already have an edge, have been creating one for decades. There’s no point in harnessing the powers of death when they already embody the powers of life. 

The innumerable events that little by little fractured their family apart - don’t, now. They’re strong together, protect each other, build and grow and burn as a team, as a family. And the cycles where they die, where they’re separated, just pull them closer together. They know that they make it through this together, or not at all. 

But some things are not so different. Some things don’t need an exterior incentive, don’t need any motive but that of desire to help. So Merle parleys. He reaches out to John, year after year after year. Every year, he dies. And the next, he tries and dies again, and again and again, because at his heart that’s who Merle _is._ He doesn’t think he can stop John, save John. And he doesn’t think he should. 

He just wants to give John the chance to save himself. 

**Be the Light**

On the first day, the first sunlit day of their one hundredth cycle, Davenport gathers them all on the deck of the Starblaster. “I think we’re ready. I think, this cycle, we have a shot at this. But we’re a crew, a team, and we should decide this together.”

Lucretia smiles. “I mean, year one-hundred seems kinda fitting, doesn’t it?”

Magnus nods decisively. “I’m ready to punch.”

Taako sighs. “You’ve spent the last fucking century becoming a magic user, and instead you’re going to take on the Hunger with your bare hands?”

“Yup!”

Taako facepalms. “Okay, let’s do this then, solely because I want to see that happen.”

Merle’s more pensive. “Yeah, I mean… Okay. I think my role’s going to be a little different than yours, for obvious reasons. But okay. I’m willing to give this a try.”

Barry glances at Lup, then back at the others. “We have a lot to get done this year, if we’re going to do this. But… we’ve got time. I’m in.”

Lup smiles, eyes bright. “Let’s get this party started.” 

The rest of the week is spent planning, preparing, gathering supplies. And once they’re ready, each of the seven sets off into the world on their own. Because they’re strong, they have trained for this for decades, but no one can do this alone. And this world deserves a chance to fight for itself. 

Magnus goes to the desert, to a town soaring atop sandstone cliffs. It wasn’t his final destination - he didn’t really have one in mind - but then a girl with fire in her heart and a man with warmth in his smile offer him a hot dinner, and then mention the corrupt government, and _really,_ he can’t let that stand. So at Julia’s side, he fights. Not with fists - okay, not _just_ with fists - but with words, and passion, and organization and community growth. And when they gather for the final fight, to take down Kalen once and for all, he’s not the only one that glows. 

Merle heads to the coast, setting up shop at a small, abandoned temple on the beaches near Neverwinter. He doesn’t preach, exactly, and he certainly doesn’t do it in Pan’s name. He just says what he believes, what he knows. And he gains a reputation quickly, word spreading that he can help the lost and confused. He gives advice for problems great and small, to the penniless and the powerful. And they come away lighter, with maybe not a full solution but with the warmth of help honestly and freely given. 

Davenport heads toward the ocean as well, but does not stop at the shoreline. He takes to the water like it’s his home, sails across the seas as far as his little boat will take him. He gains a reputation for being everywhere at once - one day he’s sharing tall tales in a dingy seaside pub, the next he’s in the thick of a storm throwing a life preserver to a floundering sailor. When asked, he just shrugs. “We go where we’re needed.” He explores, he helps where he can, and he makes some highly legally suspect mods to motorboat engines. 

Taako makes a beeline for the cities, toward whatever hub of magic and technology this place has got going for it. He’s a scientist and a wizard, a very good one if he does say so himself, and this is where he thrives. He finds technical geniuses, like a young engineer and her son, and pulls together a laboratory that’s a hodgepodge of technology and magic the likes of which had never been seen before. And Taako’s in the middle of it all, weaving throughout with suggestions and tips and snarky humor, but always inspiring, supporting, fostering creation. 

Barry, surprisingly, goes a different route. He makes his way to a little town, a bit on the edge of nowhere, called Phandalin. He settles in easily to their adventuring community, to the hub of travelers passing through. He gains the trust of the community, accepted as one of their own in just weeks. He picks up their speech patterns, trains as a fighter just for the hell of it, and he keeps an eye on things. And pretty fast people learn that if you need to know if an employer is cheating you, or there’s something nasty hiding where you’re going, or if you maybe need a little necromancy done on the side, you go to Bluejeans. Yes, him, the dad looking man in the jeans carrying a little redheaded halfling girl on his shoulders. Yeah, I know, really. Trust me. 

Lucretia wanders, not settling in any one place. She meets people as she goes, new friends and new allies. She becomes a bit of a legend, the wandering young storyteller with brilliant white hair and gleaming staff, always there to share a tale or a smile. She picks up strays as she goes - a young violinist who just wants to be remembered, a budding aeronaut, a rogue with a quick laugh and some sweet flips and her determined half-orc girlfriend with an equally quick crossbow. She reminds everyone of the power of hope and inspiration and the power that stories can bring. 

And Lup wanders too, albeit slightly differently. While Lucretia warms, Lup rallies. Her family helps give the people the strength to fight, and Lup gives them the knowledge of what they’re fighting. In the Starblaster, with Fisher, she goes from place to place, the largest cities and the smallest hamlets. She tells them what is coming, and is met with fear, and resistance, and denial. But Lup has a way with words, a way with inspiration and sparking a fire in the hearts of those who hear her. Because everything she says is entirely truthful, is told with the honesty of someone who knows this in the core of her being. Because yes, the Hunger is coming, with the strength of entropy and the defeat of a thousand worlds behind it. But that stops here. Because now, they have the ability to end it, once and for all. They can save this plane. They just have to do it together. 

She tells them when it’s coming, and the people mobilize. They train, with weapons and with words, with all the magic and tools they have at their disposal. Swords are forged, healing potions are brewed, but the atmosphere is anything but bleak. Weapon-smiths sing, belting in time to the fall of their hammers. Children play in the streets, laughter interspersed with the _thwack_ of bowstrings and hiss of magic missiles hitting targets. There’s playfulness in the brewing of potions, a lighthearted challenge to see who can give theirs the best scent or the brightest colors. There’s hope. 

And when the day comes, when the Hunger arrives, the seven of the Starblaster are not alone. On an open field, where the darkness gathers, Lup _burns_ , an avatar of the Light, fueled by determination and hope and joy and righteous anger. She stands tall at the front of the charge, facing not her enemy, but the people who have become _her_ people over the last twelve months. She looks at them, her face a blinding creation of pure white fire, and she smiles. 

“You know what this is capable of. But you’ve had a year to prepare, to train, and guess what? The Hunger thinks it can take us. But it doesn’t know what _you_ are capable of. You’ve all heard enough of my rousing speeches over the past few months, so I’ll keep this brief.” 

And she takes a spear from a nearby fighter, and slowly, painstakingly draws a line in the sand. And as she does, like a match on a trail of oil, the line comes alight with brilliant white fire.

She hands the spear back and turns back to face her people. “This ends here.”

There’s a roaring cheer from the crowd, and as they prepare to fight - not angry, or afraid, but fueled by sheer determination and love and conviction - Lup turns to Barry and murmurs something drowned out by the noise.

She turns to face the Hunger, steps up to the line, and raises one hand high. A hush falls, and she glances back with a grin, before turning and slashing down with her hand. Lup, and her people, and her family, charge into battle. 

And far away, on a nonexistent shore, a small, dwarf shaped beacon of light does not draw a weapon, or cast a spell. He just reaches out his glowing hand.

And John takes it.

**Author's Note:**

> _**Kindle the Light:** Through your acts of mercy, kindness, and forgiveness, kindle the light of hope in the world, beating back despair._
> 
> _**Shelter the Light:** Where there is good, beauty, love, and laughter in the world, stand against the wickedness that would swallow it. Where life flourishes, stand against the forces that would render it barren._
> 
> _**Preserve Your Own Light:** Delight in song and laughter, in beauty and art. If you allow the light to die in your own heart, you can't preserve it in the world._
> 
> _**Be the Light:** Be a glorious beacon for all who live in despair. Let the light of your joy and courage shine forth in all your deeds. _
> 
> _\- The Oath of the Ancients_


End file.
